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According to the poll, her positive rating slid 8 percentage points in two weeks and she had a negative rating of 48 per cent in a week where she admitted making a mistake in claiming she had come under sniper fire during a 1996 trip to Bosnia. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's positive rating has dropped to a new low of 37 per cent in an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.
According to the poll, the New York senator's positive rating slid 8 percentage points in two weeks and she had a negative rating of 48 per cent in a week where she admitted making a mistake in claiming she had come under sniper fire during a 1996 trip to Bosnia.
Her Democratic rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, also saw a slight dip in his positive rating, to 49 per cent from 51 per cent, the poll found.
Mrs Clinton, who would be the first female US president, and Senator Obama, who would be the first black president, are in a heated battle for the Democratic nomination to face presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in November's election.
The survey was taken after Senator Obama gave a speech last week on race in America and rejected racially charged remarks by his pastor in Chicago of two decades, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
NBC said 32 per cent of respondents said Senator Obama 'sufficiently addressed the issue' and 26 per cent said he needed to say more about the Wright controversy.
More than half of those surveyed - 55 per cent - said they were 'disturbed' by the videos of Rev Wright that were widely circulated on television and the Internet, the poll found.
In head-to-head matchups, Senator Obama and Mrs Clinton were even at 45 per cent. In general election matchups, Senator Obama led Mr McCain by 44 per cent to 42 per cent and Mr McCain led Mrs Clinton by 46 per cent to 44 per cent.
When asked which candidate could unite the country if elected, 60 per cent said Senator Obama, 58 per cent said Mr McCain and 46 per cent said Mrs Clinton.
The poll of 700 registered voters was conducted on Monday and Tuesday and had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
NBC said its pollsters oversampled African-Americans to get a more reliable cross tabulation on questions regarding Senator Obama's speech on race. -- REUTERS
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